Elbow Grease and Fairy Dust (April 29, 2017)

By Becky Huebner, Nebraska Home Sales Realtor

For our daughter’s 5th birthday we threw her a fairy princess birthday party. It was magical. Wands, tutus, crowns and fairy dust (a.k.a. glitter that remains…forever) carried the day. The work of the before and after the fairy contingent was substantial, but the results were magical and the glow lingered for days.

Where should I price my house? Can you sell my house when the agent before you could not? How long will it take to sell my house?

These and other frequent questions seem very reasonable ones. I too, if not in my line of work, would likely be asking the same ones. But from where I sit I must say a magic wand and some fairy dust would be helpful in my efforts to answer them.

Pricing, marketing and selling a house are all part science and part art. Sold comps provide one good piece of information, active competition another. My personal and company marketing plans add to the science of it all. But after that there is the art. Which comps, which actives might a buyer prefer more, or less, than yours. Who I market to, billboards, and coffee shop conversations, and on-line, in print and in person reach outs all catch (or miss) radar screens.

We always, only, have price, condition and location to work with. Even in this brisk market, price still matters. Buyers still want the best value for their dollar and sellers still want to retain as many dollars as possible. We seem to forgive condition when inventory is low, but we can’t change location, so price remains.

Whether creating temporary fairy princesses or a real estate transaction, the elbow grease, the process, the substantial work, is what makes the magic happen. When the work is done the results will usually happen, and temporary fairy princesses or tickled pink homeowners are born.

I may not know exactly when, or exactly what price, but we can usually make the magic happen. A little bit of lucky fairy dust can’t hurt either, especially if the glow of home ownership lasts as long as the glitter does.